Surgical site infection and the routine use of perioperative hyperoxia in a general surgical population: a randomized controlled trial

Giving surgery patients increased oxygen during the operation may not reduce the risk of a surgical wound infection and may even increase the risk, according to a study of 165 patients. One-fourth of the patients who received 80% oxygen developed a surgical wound infection compared to 11% of the patients who received 35% oxygen. Patients who developed a surgical wound infection stayed twice as long in the hospital on average as those who did not.